Time Will Tell
by druss deathwalker
Summary: Set after the Season 2 Winter finale. Grant and Kara are surviving.
1. Chapter 1

Ward sat in the cabin in front of the fireplace. The only lights coming from the fire just like he preferred. He had his usual specialist outfit on. This time though it was bloodied and cut. He and Kara had been on what she likes to call a 'hunt'. Turns out that when you brainwash someone and suddenly they don't have the compulse to obey, these people get upset at the people who had controlled them. Who knew?

Yes he should really stop drinking, his inner dialogue was kind of an asshole. The thought causing him to chuckle and take another swill.

Kara walked in 'Gotta admit that was something new. Charging 3 Hydra agents that are armed to the teeth with only a pencil. You weren't trying to impress me were you'

Grant snorted. His relationship with Kara 'Agent 33' was entirely platonic. They both knew sex would only complicate matters.

'You OK' she persisted.

'Im fine. We were being tailed'

Suddenly Kara become alert. 'Who?' Grant simply shrugged. 'Don't know. Lost them'

Kara became agitated. She started walking around the room, a habit that she was prone to do when she became stressed. He knew her thoughts. Them hunting Hydra was one thing. Hydra hunting them was different. Her biggest fear was not death but becoming a puppet again. Kara looked at him with hidden fear. 'You sure we lost them'. Grant answered 'Unless they have access to satellite repositioning technology were safe'

Still even if they were tailed they had a backup plan.

Kara sat next to him. And picked up the bottle. Starting to drink straight from it. Smirking at his look.

Really had the woman not heard the word boundary.

Minutes passed into a nice comfortable silence, at least he thought it was comfortable until Kara spoke

'Were you brainwashed?'

'No'. Grant replied instantly

In all the months they had been together she had not pushed him into revealing his secrets and he had not pushed her into revealing hers. As if by not talking about the past would make it go away.

His heart was suddenly racing. He was going to lead this discussion in a certain direction. As he did so a part of him screamed not to.

'You've read my Shield file. You've talked about me when you were in Hydra?'

'Yeah' Kara answered back nonchalantly as if this was a simple conversation. if he wasn't so good at reading body language he might actually believe her. 'But you know records can be falsified'

Grant knew that Kara suspected the truth. Or at least part of the truth. He knew too much about how she was feeling. Could empathise with her a bit too much, for not to have gone through something similar.

And he was too damned tired

'You know when I was in Shield custody I… well. You know'

God why was this so hard. And why did he feel so compelled to tell her

Compelled. Funny right. A part of his drunken self thought. Just how many bottles had he drank here

Kara looked at him expectantly. Had she said something?

Kara repeated 'I know'

Fine. Why the hell not. He would tell her. Maybe, just maybe. It would make him stop feeling this way. And he owed it to her

'They thought they had broken me. It makes sense. I hurt myself a couple of times and then I started telling them about Hydra'

'Was it a lie' Kara spoke taking another swig of the drink. And he knew she thought it was.

'Yes and no. I did try to take take care of matters' Why was saying the word suicide so difficult. How was supposed to continue on with this conversation if he couldn't even say that. Maybe he shouldn't

'But I didn't do it because I was broken. I did it because I was afraid that I would break…. There are some secrets I could not. Would not tell'

A pause

'But I'll tell you'

Kara froze. It was as if the the entire world had gone still. She knew what it meant. He was a surviver. Hell he was **the** surviver. But for him to attempt the unthinkable, to keep the secret. Yeah she knew

And he waited for her answer


	2. Chapter 2

Kara got up and started pacing and then from the there side of the room

'Its to do with brainwashing' She spoke softly. As if she was about to perpetuate a crime, but could not her stop herself from doing it

Grant whispered 'Yes and no'

She snorted. As if trying to bring levity to this situation would make it better

'Tell me'

And Grant started telling her his secret

'Its true that I was trained by Garrett. But it wasn't in the academy. At least not all of my training was there.'

Another drink of the glass. And then opening a new bottle and pouring it in the glass. Kara waiting patiently.

'Garret needed a weapon. Somebody to protect him from Shield, and if necessary somebody to protect him from Hydra…. I was 15 when I met Garrett.'

A slip of a drink

'I was… going through a rough strech'

Was that an earthquake he was feeling. What the hell. Suddenly as quickly as the earthquake had begun it ended.

Kara walked over to him. And sat down on the chair next to him and waited for him to finish

'I was in military academy, and my sister called me she was crying. She said things.'

Another slip of the drink at this his hands shook

'I hijacked the car travelled all night and when I reached home the house was in flames. I um well I took the blame for the fire. My family put a lot of pressure on certain individuals'

Another slip. He knew what Kara was thinking, of course they got him of. But maybe not. Maybe she suspected the truth. God knew she would be the only one.

'My father arranged for me to be tried as an adult. My brother arranged for me to be convicted for attempted murder. My mother… my new cellmate told me had a message from her. I barely survived the message'

Another drink

Kara put her head on his shoulder. When had she moved the chair closer to his?

'He got you out of prison. He raised you'

'Yes and no' They both chuckled. Both pretending that what he was saying was just an ordinary conversation

'There is place in the Wyoming mountains. Completely isolated from the rest of the world. No humans… Just… cold, hunger and more cold'

'Its why you like fireplaces so much' Kara said. And instantly kept quite, as if her speaking would stop his story

'After I was freed from prison I stayed there till a a week before I started Shield academy. There was so much noise in the academy, the smell and the people…. So many people'

'It must have been hard' Kara whispered. And was that a tear in her eye. And was that another earthquake

'At first I tried staying away from people. You spend half a decade in the wilderness. Communicating with people becomes difficult. Especially when they ask you opinion about 9/11 and your answer is 'what happened at 9/11'. Luckily you realise very quickly people are susceptible to mirroring. They laugh you laugh, there upset your upset. Gotta admit though almost died from eating Donuts the first week I was there'

There was complete silence.

'Of course when Garrett found out. I ended with 3 broken fingers'

Another drink

'He broke them' Kara surmised

'Nope… He told me to break them. I did'

And now Grant would finish his confession

'I was conditioned in those woods… A couple of years ago I was doing an op for Shield. I had to pose as a drug dealer in Mexico. The Kingpin said that he wanted to show us something. He walked us back to the hacienda and I saw a couple of dogs there. Even from a distance you could tell they were malnurished, beaten. It was pretty bad'

His hands shook, just remembering the scene. Made his heart race, and he drank more

A robotic voice narrates the story

'He shouted to the guy next to the dogs. Time for the show. The man picked a dog seemingly out of random and brought him to the front. Some guys brought over a goat and placed it infront of the dog…. The dog trainer shouted a command and in a blink of an eye the dogs jaws were in the goats throat. The trainer went next to the dog and showed us a piece of stick. With complete and utter force he beat the dog. This lasted for minutes,. But the dog would not let go of the goat. Even though the beast was dead. The trainer walked in front of us and spoke a command in soft voice the dog. Instantly the dog let go of the goat and trotted to him. The trainer smiled.'

Another drink. More courage

'Another command was whispered. This time the dog played dead. The kingpin handed a machete over to the trainer. And the trainer walked next to the dog and cut of its tail. It whimpered, but didn't move. The trainer went next to the dog showed him the blade and slowly it descended towards its neck. '

Grant continued speaking his tale in a calm monotonous voice as if reciting a shopping list

'Now the dog it could have moved anytime. It didn't… The Kingpin shouted that that was loyalty. And you know what he was right. That was loyalty. The trainer was good at conditioning.'

Another sip

'Garret wasn't good at conditioning. He was great at it'

Kara walked to her bedroom. 'Do you think if if the trainer died and the dog lived. Do you think the dog would have turned out OK?'

Grant smiled tired beyond tired and as he walked over to his bedroom 'Time will tell'

The next earthquake that hit toppled him over. Suddenly Shield agents broke in. Grant thinking of all the scenarios who he was fighting made a quick calculation

He lifted his arms. Because he had his shirt leaves rolled up the lights reflected on his scars. And from the appliance it was almost as if they mocked him.

Then he saw her. And his breath almost caught SHE was there. She had unshed tears in her eyes. Time slowed and without knowing how, he knew she had heard every word.

Suddenly there was a noise from Kara's bedroom and he ducked.

One of the weapons they had obtained from Hydra was a one of a kind alien tech concussion grenade. When the button was pressed a shock wave spread out. Due to its design anybody not wearing earplugs that would stop a certain frequency would get nocked out for a couple of minutes. It was enough time for him and Kara to disappear

A week later in a abandoned warehouse a part of Grant thinks maybe he should have stayed. Obviously they had heard his tale. But somebody once told him 'never to turn his back on the enemy'.

As much as he would like to think his past would change anything he knew better to trust SHIELD. The best they could offer him was to take the place of Garret, and he had almost let them. Let her.

He trusted Kara. She had seen the worst of him, and accepted him for who he was. She would not betray. It was why he told her his secret after all.

There is an old adage. **There is bad in the best of us. There is good in the worst of us. **

He owed it to himself to be free. And if not to himself, he owed it to that dog. Or maybe that was a false hope.

Time will tell.


End file.
